Ron Paul Refuses to Endorse McCain -- Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), former candidate for president of the Republican and Libertarian Parties, yesterday announced that he has refused to endorse Senator John McCain for president. Instead, he is asking Americans to vote for third-party candidates. He didn’t cite a preference for any of them, but rather he said it’s time to change the system.

Pentagon Admits Afghan Strategy isn’t Working -- For sometime, anyone with a rudimentary understanding of military and political strategy knew that America’s approach to Afghanistan wasn’t working. For almost seven years, the US has tried to establish a stable government there. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullens told a Congressional committee on Wednesday, “We cannot kill our way to victory.” It’s a start.

Hedge Fund Study Says Oil Spike and Decline Due to Speculation -- Masters Capital Management is a hedge fund based in Christiansted, Virgin Islands, with an additional office in Atlanta, Georgia. As such, it is a pillar of modern global capitalism. It has just furnished a report that says “large financial players have become the primary source of the dramatic and damaging volatility seen in oil prices.”

Baseball Played in Surrey in 1755 -- Legend has it that American baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday when he laid out the first diamond in Elihu Phinney's cow pasture in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. This is, of course, not true, Mr. Doubleday having moved from Cooperstown the year before. However, a scrap of history has come to light suggesting baseball was being played in England 20 years before the Battle of Lexington and Concorde began the American Revolution.